The last time J.K. Simmons and Damien Chazelle teamed up, their movie Whiplash scored five Oscar nominations including a Best Supporting Actor win for Simmons. No wonder, then, that they’re looking to join forces again.

Simmons has just signed on for Chazelle’s upcoming musical La La Land. He joins Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who play a pair of star-crossed lovers. Get all the details on the JK Simmons La La Land casting after the jump. Read More »

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Lionsgate have announced a whole slate of new release dates, and also some date changes. The films in question include American Ultra, Criminal, Dirty Grandpa, Gods of Egypt, La La Land, and Power Rangers. Hit the jump to find out the latest release date announcements.Read More »

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have teamed for a film twice before. One was Crazy Stupid Love, and that worked out alright. The second movie was Gangster Squad (above), and the less said about it, the better. But that film’s problems weren’t related to the casting, and we’d be happy to see them work together again. Now they’re looking at La La Land, the musical that Whiplash director Damien Chazelle is assembling as his follow-up to the conservatory nightmare that blew minds in 2014. Read More »

Miles Teller and Emma Watson are in talks to co-star in a modern-day Los Angeles musical from the red-hot director of Whiplash. That’s a cool sentence. The film is called La La Land and Damien Chazellewill write and direct with Lionsgate attached to distribute. It’ll follow two artistic, romantic Los Angeles residents who fall in love but find the cutthroat nature of the city so brutal on their relationship, they’re pushed into song.

Damien Chazelle, who wrote Grand Piano and wrote and directed Whiplash, certainly has a musical bent. While both of his films so far have had thriller elements, they have also had significant musical influence. Grand Piano follows a concert pianist, played by Elijah Wood, who is warned that any missed note in one particular performance will have violent consequences. Whiplash (above) follows a student jazz drummer who seeks greatness under the tutelage of an unusually stern taskmaster. (Read my review here.)

Now Chazelle will make a film called La La Land, which keeps the musical element, still with a jazz inclination, and sounds like it could even edge into thriller territory. Read More »